


The Poisoned Chalice

by zoeteniets



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Challenge Response, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Smut, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-11-30 06:57:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11458398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoeteniets/pseuds/zoeteniets
Summary: There is a plot to poison Prince Robert and it is up to his manservant, Aaron, to save him.This fic is a response to robroninlove's 'Seven Days of Robron' challenge. Instead of seven one-shots I have decided to write a seven-part fic with each challenge prompt acting as inspiration for a chapter. This fic is loosely based on the Merlin episode of the same name.Rated E for smut in chapter five. The rest of the fic is rated G.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Day One- Fluff + “You look amazing tonight.”

“You look amazing tonight.”

The voice is soft behind him. Robert checks his reflection in the looking glass one more time, fussing with his collar. His robes are made of fabric dyed the blue of his country’s kingdom, matching his eyes perfectly. When he was born the chroniclers said that his eyes were a sign that he was destined to rule. It was the one thing he always had over his father’s favourite, Prince Andrew.

He turns, expecting to see his manservant fussing about behind him. When his father had first ordered that Aaron take up this role both boys had hated the idea with a burning passion. As such, Aaron had made every attempt he could to be as useless at his job as possible. If Robert was ever feeling generous, he would admit that this wasn’t exactly the boy’s fault; his family oversaw the armoury and Aaron had been trained in their art all through his teenage years. Rob knows there is a big difference between the strong and brutal work of the blacksmiths and the delicate subtle art of court intrigue that a prince’s servant must know. But Aaron had learnt quickly, aided by the occasional trip to the stocks for his smart mouth and hot temper, and Robert had learnt not to rely so much on other people. After all, when one’s servant was as useless as Aaron one need to be able to get ready for the day on one’s own.

He'll never forget the look on Aaron’s face the first time he turned up late in Robert’s chambers to find the prince had dressed and groomed himself.

He wears a similar expression now. 

Aaron is standing in the shadows of the room, Robert’s crown held gently in his hands. He is also dressed in the royal blue, his status as Robert’s closest servant demanding that he also take part in the coming banquet. The blue tunic is far less fine than the robes Robert is wearing but is a vast improvement to the threadbare garb Aaron usually wears. The cut of these new clothes emphasises the broadness of Aaron’s chest and the thickness of his arms. It seems silly that a man so physically imposing should, at this moment, be trying to shrink himself into the darkness.

It has taken a long time for Robert to notice just how quiet and small his servant could be. Like many of the court, Robert had been fooled by Aaron’s physical presence into thinking that he was a brute and a thug. Aaron himself had done nothing to disabuse Robert and others of this notion; his fights with the Barton brothers who ran the stables were legendary even among court circles. Indeed, Aaron had been given the job he hated so much as a _reward_ bestowed upon him by King Jack after Aaron saved Robert from an assassin by throwing Robert out of the way and knocking the would-be-assassin out with one powerful punch.

Robert had hated him in those first few weeks, not just because of his utter incompetence but also because of the way that Aaron looked at him. His manservant was always scowling, always surly, always standing around being useless with his arms folded. Robert hadn’t necessarily expected the fawning service he was used to but he had at least expected some gratitude for the amazing honour that had been bestowed upon him.

But over time their relationship had thawed. Robert had been the one to make the first move, offering Aaron to share his meal and wine, emphasising that he wanted the two of them to get on. Long hunting trips in silence gradually changed to friendly bantering sessions and Robert was delighted to discover Aaron’s whip-sharp humour that matches Robert’s own. The forced proximity of their hunting trips had also given Robert the opportunity to learn exactly what each of Aaron’s expressions and looks meant. Before Robert had found Aaron’s dementor as hard to penetrate as a rock. Now he could read Aaron’s face and mood at 100 paces.

Well, most of them at least. Tonight, he can’t tell what Aaron’s furrowed brow and downturned lip is telling him. It’s a shame; Robert can feel his own mood souring because of it.

He doesn’t know how or why his moods became so connected with his servant’s. All he knows is that he never feels readier to face the day when the first thing he sees is Aaron’s smile, never feels more devastated by a defeat than when he sees the concern on Aaron’s face, never feels more ashamed of himself when Aaron turns from him in anger.

He wonders, maybe, if one day he might be able to tell Aaron how he feels. How much he would like to cause him nothing but smiles.

Instead, Rob simply looks Aaron up and down and drinks in the sight of the man who turned his world so utterly on his head.

“So do you,” he replies with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Two- Angst + “I won’t let you.”

There are few things in this world that Aaron hates more than banquets. The number of people stuffed into the great hall always makes it unbearably hot, even in the depths of winter. The courses are endless, the wine pitchers heavy, and the noise so loud that Aaron always develops a headache before the evening is half way through.

Back in the early days of his job as Prince Robert’s servant, there was nothing Aaron dreaded more than having to serve at a banquet. But then, one evening, he had noticed that the Prince was calling him over more frequently than he should have been. As Aaron leant down to top up Robert’s already full goblet Robert would whisper something in his ear- a joke, or a bit of gossip, or a snide comment about how another courtier was dressed. And that night the courses seemed lighter and the evening more pleasant, and Aaron found himself not hating the world and everyone in it.

Eventually, Robert had organised for Aaron to attend him and him alone. “He is _my_ servant after all father,” Robert had complained and for once the King had given in rather than try to battle through his son’s sulking. And gradually, very gradually, Aaron had begun to enjoy these events just a little bit.

But he would never enjoy having to constantly traipse up and down the kitchen stairs to refill his wine pitcher. He tells Robert not to drink so much, but Rob sees right through his ploy to lighten his workload and drains his goblet in one gulp with a cheeky wink as a show of defiance.

Which leads to Aaron huffing and making his way down to the cellar.

It is abnormally cold down there. Aaron knows that it must be in order to preserve the food, but today the coldness down there seems exceptional to him. He has never shivered like this on any of his many trips to fetch the wine. Nor has his skin prickled with goose bumps, or his bones creaked with cold.

Something is not right.

The next thing he knows, there are voices.

“You’re sure this will work?” The voice is rough and vaguely familiar.

“Absolutely. When the treaty is signed the King and Prince will be the first to drink from the goblets King Lawrence is to gift to them. Robert cannot refuse to drink; to do so would be a grave insult.” The replying voice is female, with the faint twang of a foreign accent.

Aaron presses himself back into the shadows. Is this a plot? To hurt Robert?

“But what if he doesn’t?”

“He will, you have to trust me.”

“And you’re sure this won’t be traced back to me?”

“The goblet will pass through many hands before it gets to the Prince. There’s no way that you will be accused. And even if you are, you can trust that I will get you out of prison.”

“I don’t trust sorcery.”

“You don’t have to. You just have to trust me.”

There is a faint, wet sound, like two sets of lips being pressed together, then footsteps moving away. Aaron stays in his hiding place a moment longer, half to make sure the coast is clear and half to calm his pounding heartbeat. If someone is out to poison the prince then it’s Aaron’s duty to stop them, whatever the cost.

Besides, the thought of Robert in pain, or ill, or dead is unbearable.

…

Robert is trying very hard indeed to school his features into something that vaguely resembles interest but the truth is he is bored out of his mind. Aaron has disappeared off meaning that there is no one to tease or complain to and the speeches about the trade treaty his father has just signed with the White Kingdom seem to be going on forever.

Robert has never really liked the Whites- but their kingdom is wealthy and their court was once a seductive playground for Robert to hone his skills of manipulation and political bargaining. Robert had spent the summers of his youth in their kingdom, apprenticed as King Lawrence’s squire in the same way that his half-brother Prince Andrew had been apprenticed in the lands of the Dukes of Hopwood. While the Hopwoods had taught his brother the skills to become a great warrior, King Lawrence’s approach was far more political, focused on winning wars through trade and exchange rather than with an army.

Robert had thrived there, of course he had. Until, one day, he overstretched himself and it all came crashing down. He had believed that he was clever enough to play both of Lawrence’s daughters at once, making them both believe that he loved them so that both would be thrilled once he managed to negotiate a marriage contract with one of them. But Princess Rebecca hadn’t been able to keep her mouth shut and his use of the sisters had been exposed, leading to him quietly making his way back to his own kingdom with his tail between his legs.

The proximity of events, between him returning to the castle and the attempt on his life that threw Aaron Dingle into his path, might have made him question whether the Whites had anything to do with the sudden appearance of assassins in his kingdom. He likely would have investigated himself had it not been for the need to train and deal with the surly manservant he had suddenly acquired. 

Robert is relieved to hear King Lawrence’s droning finally stop and see his father gesture for the court to stand. This boring ceremony will soon be over and Robert will be able to retire to his bed, once he’s had a go at Aaron for slacking in his duties, that is. Honestly, where could the boy have gone to?

“The treaty we have signed today signals the dawn of a new era of cooperation between our kingdoms,” King Jack begins. “Let us set forth in this new venture with a toast and an exchange of gifts.”

“Knowing the customs of your kingdom,” King Lawrence adds, “I gift to you this set of silver goblets with which to toast the health of our nations.”

A servant dressed in the White kingdom’s colours steps forwards and presents Robert with a finely wrought silver cup lying on a cushion of rich velvet. He takes the cup and gestures for a servant to fill it with wine, slightly perturbed that Aaron is still nowhere to be seen.

Robert knows this rite well, having performed it many times before.

“I Prince Robert, heir to the throne of this kingdom toast the health and prosperity of our two realms.” He lifts his goblet and is about to sip the wine when suddenly a voice shouts out.

“Stop! It’s poisoned!”

Robert would know that voice anywhere.

“Aaron! What are you playing at?”

His manservant doesn’t answer, only pushes his way through the crowd and snatches the goblet from his hand.

“There is a plot to poison Prince Robert,” Aaron announces to the court.

“This is an outrage!” King Lawrence splutters. “I will not allow this insult to go unanswered.”

“On what grounds do you base this accusation?” King Jack asks Aaron in a serious tone.

Robert won’t stand for this, “I’ll handle him, father,” he says gripping Aaron roughly by the sleeve and pulling him over to his father. “Aaron’s clearly been at the wine again, haven’t you?” Aaron only looks at him with a look halfway between panic and insult.

“Unless you want to be strung up,” King Jack threatens, “I suggest you tell me why you think it’s poisoned.”

“I overheard two people discussing the plot. They said the chalice was poisoned,” Aaron confesses.

“Who were they?”

“I cannot say,” Aaron admits, and Robert is relieved that he at least has the dignity to look ashamed of himself, “a man and a woman. I did not see their faces. The man sounded familiar, but the woman… she had the accent of someone from The White Kingdom”

“The boy is clearly speaking nonsense,” King Lawrence interrupts and Robert has half a mind to agree with him. “He should be punished for his lies.”

King Jack addresses the other ruler, “if you are telling the truth, and the goblet is not poisoned, then you have nothing to fear.”

King Lawrence scoffs and holds his hand out so that King Jack can pass the goblet to him.

“No, if the goblet does turn out to be poisoned I want the privilege of punishing you for endangering my son myself.”

Then the King turns back to Aaron, “he will drink it.”

“But if it is poisoned he’ll die!” Robert exclaims, suddenly worried.

“Then we’ll know he was telling the truth.”

“Father, please, he was only trying to protect me!” Robert begs. He knows, he just knows, that Aaron must be telling the truth. “You cannot make him do this!”

Aaron is already lifting the goblet to his lips, “it’s all right your highness; this is my duty.” His face is set with fierce determination, blue eyes blazing in the candlelight.

Robert could slap him. Of all the times to discover a sense of obedience!

Aaron holds the goblet out to King Lawrence in a mockery of a toast, then he lifts it to his mouth.

Robert’s whole world narrows to the space between the rim of the lifted goblet and Aaron’s lips. A thin sheen shines upon them as if he has licked them in anticipation. He almost looks like he is expecting a kiss, but from a lover not from death.

Robert cannot stand this. He can’t watch Aaron risk his life in this way. He can’t watch Aaron die.

He quickly reaches out and snatches the goblet from Aaron’s hands with a whispered, “no, I won’t let you,” and drinks the entire contents in one gulp.

The clatter of the chalice as it hits the stone floor echoes throughout the whole castle.

Robert looks to his father and siblings, their shocked expressions mirrored throughout the whole court. He turns back to Aaron and sees the face he has adored for so long marred with an expression of true horror.

And then, nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Three- Funny + “You make me happy.”
> 
> Sadly, I had to cheat with this chapter a little bit. The dialogue is still here but the theme is definitely not funny.

Aaron rushes forwards, arms outstretched to catch the Prince before he can hit the ground. He tries to cry for help but the sound catches in his throat and he is only able to gasp Robert’s name as he holds him in his arms. Princess Victoria shouts for the palace physician and he appears instantly by Aaron’s side, checking over the Prince for signs of life.

Robert looks like death, the colour drained from his face, his body limp and unresponsive. It is like a candle has been blown out; where once there was light and warmth now there is only ashy death.

“No, no, Robert, stay with me,” Aaron mutters nonsensically as the rest of the world moves around him. He vaguely registers King Jack ordering the arrest of King Lawrence and his retinue and the ensuing scuffle but he’s too focused on the limp body in his arms to pay them any heed.

“His heart is still beating, but it is very faint,” says Paddy, the physician. “We need to get him to my chambers.”

Aaron hoists Robert into his arms trying not to notice how cold and heavy he feels. He’s striding out of the hall before anyone can stop him, Paddy following behind ordering Victoria to bring him the goblet with her.

Aaron lays Robert down on a bed in the centre of the physician’s rooms as soon as they get there. The firelight reflects off Robert’s pale skin as Aaron brushes a lock of hair off Robert’s brow. Paddy and Victoria rush around behind him trying to identify what little poison remains in the goblet.

“Will he be all right?” Aaron asks, trying to keep the panic from the voice.

“I found this in the goblet,” Paddy holds up a small petal gripped with a pair of tweezers. “It’s likely that this is the source of the poison.”

Princess Victoria looks up from the book she is rapidly flicking through.

“I’ve found it!” she exclaims. “It says here that it is the petal from the _Heriotza_ flower.”

“Is there an antidote?”

“Yes, but it can only be created from the root of the same flower.”

“Where can I find it?” Aaron says, unwilling to waste any time.

“Only the most powerful sorcerers in the land know where to find these flowers. By the time that you locate on it will be too late!” Paddy exclaims.

“I have to try,” Aaron says through the panic that is rising in his throat. “I can’t let him die, Paddy.”

Paddy considers his words for a moment, his brow creasing with thought.

“There is someone that might be able to help you,” he eventually says, “but she is just as likely to try to harm Robert as she is to help him. For all we know, she could have been the one to poison him in the first place…”

Victoria’s voice is small and cautious, “it is as Aaron said; we have to try…”

Paddy seems to reluctantly agree with her.

“There is only one sorcerer that I know of that would ever think to use as powerful an ingredient as this. She lives two days ride from here, but the journey will be treacherous and she is unlikely to be willing to assist.”

“Please Paddy,” Victoria interrupts.

He sighs. “The person you must seek is Princess Christine of The White Kingdom. She is the only one who can help you.”

…

Victoria and Paddy packed him a travel bag quickly as Aaron ran off to explain to his family where he was going. Liv begged him to take her with him but, fortunately, Cain had stepped in and pointed out that she would probably just slow him down. A compromise was reached; she would assist Paddy and Princess Victoria with caring for Robert while Aaron fetched the antidote.

His mother only frowned at him and asked why he was so determined to risk his life for someone he once hated. He couldn’t find the words to explain himself to her, but he had the feeling that maybe she understood more than she let on. His mother has always been frustratingly perceptive when it comes to him and Robert.

Back in the physician’s chambers, Paddy had shown him on a map the route he was to take to the place in The White Kingdom where Princess Chrissie was thought to reside. Aaron only sort-of knew the story of how she had given up her place at court after the tragic death of her son. Prince Robert has described her a few times calling her strong and stubborn and fierce. These might have sounded like insults, but Aaron knows Robert well enough to realise that he meant them as compliments. This brings Aaron no comfort now; he has no idea what he will do to persuade her if she refuses to help him.

Aaron looks at the prince’s sleeping face and wonders how anyone could refuse him. Then he remembers the enemies Robert has made in his short life, the schemes he has hatched, the hearts he has broken.

Despite all that Aaron cannot help the swell of his heart as he counts the freckles that dust the prince’s nose. He has tried so hard over the years he has spent with Robert to remember all the pain and suffering the prince has caused amongst the courtiers and to not be seduced by those blue-green eyes that can express so much and so little at the same time. When he found himself loving the prince _because_ of his manipulations and schemes and _because_ of his cleverness and ambition, he knew he was beyond hope.

He is entirely and utterly under Prince Robert’s spell.

Which is why he cannot leave without saying one final goodbye.

He checks that Paddy and Victoria are still too busy to notice him before sitting on the edge of the prince’s bed so that he can quietly whisper to him.

“You’re not allowed to die,” he begins, ignoring the fact that Robert already looks like he has moved beyond death’s door. He takes Robert’s hand in his own and squeezes it, hoping that the physical contact will register somewhere within Robert’s mind.

“I need you to live,” Aaron confesses. “I need you to wake up. I need…”

Aaron almost chokes on his own words. He’s never confessed this aloud before and he can’t tell if the fact that Robert cannot hear him is making it easier or harder for him to speak his truth.

“I need you to wake up,” he continues, “because I need you in my life. I can’t handle the thought of you dying, Robert. I need you to stay with me because you make me a better person. Because you make my days brighter. Because you make me happy and… because I love you.”

A single tear runs down Aaron’s nose, landing on Robert’s pale cheek. Aaron wipes it away quickly and tries not to notice how cold Robert’s skin has become.

“I love you and so I need you to fight this, to fight for me…”

Aaron is suddenly aware of movement behind him so he drops Robert’s hand before anyone can notice what he’s doing.

“You need to set off soon Aaron,” Paddy warns. “I have marked on the map the route you should take and where you should make camp.”

“We’ll look after him while you are gone,” Princess Victoria adds. It seems a strange thing for her to say. Of course they’ll look after him; he’s the prince and she is his sister. But the tone of her voice speaks to some greater understanding or concern and Aaron wonders if she heard anything of his whispered confession.

There is no time to waste wondering about it though. With one final look at the sleeping prince and one final promise that he will bring back the antidote, he sets out on his mission alone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Four- Hurt/Comfort + “I’ll keep you warm.”

Aaron knows the road well, having travelled it many times before. It was his route into the kingdom, all those years ago, when his father had kicked him out and sent him to learn a trade with his mother’s family. While he had never gone back north to the lands that held the Livesey name he had been up and down this road many times with Robert on his ridiculous hunting trips. Aaron had always hated the excursions: hated the way that the Prince would always try to show off and would nearly always have something smart or sarcastic to say whenever Aaron made a genuine attempt at conversation.

Robert always looked so elegant. He held himself with the air of someone who knew that the world would always be placed at his feet if he thought to ask for it. He rarely lost his temper, always preferring to make someone suffer for any slight against him later and in more devastating ways than a simple punch to the face. He was so unlike Aaron in every respect.

Aaron wouldn’t have ever described himself as clumsy, but somehow, he always managed to find some way of tripping or stumbling or falling whenever Prince Robert was around. From their first meeting, where he had literally walked into the Prince as he was carrying a bushel of apples to the kitchens, to the incident which had resulted in him saving the prince’s life (a total accident, not that anyone would believe him) there was a frustratingly high chance that whenever Robert was in the room, Aaron would find some way of embarrassing himself.

Most of the time it was all harmless enough; Robert would laugh at him, Aaron would pick himself back up off the floor with some retort of ‘you were in the way!’ and the incident would be forgotten. Unfortunately, once or twice an incident like this had been witnessed by the court or worse by the King, and Aaron had ended up in the stocks for the afternoon as punishment for his clumsiness and insolence. It was worth it though; Robert would always be extra nice to him when Aaron made it back to his chambers and would often be waiting for him with a flagon of ale and a warm cloth to wipe the rotten fruit from his hair.

There was, however, one incident where Aaron’s inability to stay on his feet around Robert got him into some very serious trouble. They had been out on one of their hunting trips. Robert had been teasing him the whole time about how terrible a hunter he was. Aaron had reported that his method of hunting- setting traps and snares- was far more effective than the Prince’s method of shooting big game with his bow and arrow. To prove himself, Aaron had tried Robert’s methods and had soon spied a roe deer deep in the forest.

The winter had been hard, and while everyone who lived and worked in the castle had been well taken care of Aaron was acutely aware of the fact that their food stores would eventually begin to run low. Aaron knew that killing this deer would earn both Robert’s respect and the gratitude of the cooks.

Aaron took aim and let the arrow fly. Its path was true and yet somehow the deer had moved before the arrow could strike. Though he had been aiming for a clean kill with the arrow through her neck the arrow had instead struck her on the rump, allowing her to limp away. Rob, who had been watching him the whole time simply said “well, go after her,” and so Aaron had taken off, hoping that she would slow down and let him finish the job.

He caught sight of her quickly and was after her in an instant, chasing her across the forest while Robert followed behind. She pulled away from him as they reached a clearing and Aaron reached for his bow to take a shot again, sure that this time his aim would be true.

He only just heard Robert’s cry of warning before he realised that the clearing was, in fact, a frozen lake and that the ice was cracking under him.

There was no time to move; one moment the ice was solid beneath him and the next he was plunged into the dark and icy waters.

Aaron had barely registered what was happening before a strong pair of arms had gripped him by the shoulders and pulled him out of the water and back into the light, the Prince’s worried face taking up Aaron’s entire field of vision. Robert and Aaron lay there together on top of the ice both panting their breath casting great clouds of steam into the cold air.

“Thanks,” Aaron was eventually able to mutter.

“No problem,” Robert replied, his own voice rough with exertion despite the fact that he wasn’t the one who had ended up in the water.

They lay there in silence for a few moments longer, Aaron’s wet clothes clinging to him, the cold of the water beginning to seep into his bones. His teeth were chattering.

Robert suddenly sprang into action.

“You’re cold,” he said. Fortunately for him, Aaron was in too much shock to saucily retort that Robert was stating the obvious. “We need to get you out of these clothes.”

“Buy me a drink first…” Aaron was able to joke. Knowing that Robert was there to take care of him was incredibly relaxing, Aaron realised. Maybe he could rest his eyes just for a moment.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Robert said, gently slapping Aaron’s face and causing him to open his eyes again. “My guards will have noticed that we’re missing by now and they will have already started to look for us. When we get back to the castle I’ll give you the rest of the day off to eat hot soup and sleep. But you have to stay awake until then. Can you do that?”

Aaron pouted but nodded his head.

Robert helped him limp to the shore of the lake and began fussing around with their things. He lifted the hem of Aaron’s shirt and encouraged him to raise his arms so that he could pull it all the way over his head. It was a strange reversal of their roles, but Aaron’s brain was too sluggish with cold and shock to think of some witty remark about it. He was aware enough, however, to be surprised that the Prince wasn’t offering up a comment of his own. Instead, he seemed too concerned, too worried, to find the humour in the situation. It was strange.

What was stranger still was when Robert reached up and removed his own shirt.

“What are you doing?”

“Body heat,” Robert explained. “The quickest way to warm you up is skin on skin contact.”

Robert had already pulled a blanket from the kit that they had travelled with and laid it on the ground.

“Lie down,” he directed. “I’ll keep you warm.”

Aaron knew that he was in no position to argue so he lay where Rob gestured and tried not to flinch when the Prince lay down behind him and wrapped his naked arms around him. Robert’s body was hot like fire and he quickly felt the heat of the Prince’s body seep into his skin, the Prince’s heartbeat echoing within his chest.

Now, Aaron stops at the lake as he passes it on his journey. The water is unfrozen and clear now but little else has changed. Aaron can pinpoint exactly the spot where he lay semi-naked in his Prince’s arms. The time had passed slowly and Robert had talked the whole time always asking questions and pressing for responses. Aaron might have had a go at him for being irritating but he knew that what Robert was doing his best to keep him awake.

They had spoken of everything and nothing as Aaron shivered against him and Robert did his best to keep him comfortable. And afterwards, their relationship had never been the same again.

Afterwards, he could not pass this lake without thinking of the way Robert had saved him with no regard for his own life, just as he had with the poison. Afterwards, he could not hear Robert’s sarcastic tone without also hearing the echo of softly whispered questions that had no purpose other than keeping him alive. Afterwards, he could not touch the skin of the man he was bound to serve without thinking too of what they had sacrificed for each other.

Afterwards, he knew without a doubt that he loved Prince Robert with his whole heart.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Five- Smut + “Do it. Please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The acts shown in this chapter are consensual; however, consent is not expressly given within the body of the chapter. This is because the events of this chapter are not taking place in real time but are instead the product of one character dreaming. Please give this chapter a skip if you think this material will be triggering for you. This chapter is intended to highlight the desire Robert and Aaron have for each other rather than to add details to the plot and so can be skipped without missing any plot details. 
> 
> If you are still unsure, a detailed summary of this chapter is provided in the notes at the end of this chapter.

Robert is not dreaming. Except, he’s not awake either. His body feels heavy like it has already fallen asleep before his mind has had the chance to catch up. He is not worried. Indeed, he is soft and warm and comfortable and so he does not try to rouse himself but instead lets this dream or hallucination or whatever it is wash over him.

Gradually he becomes aware of an intense wave of pleasure racing up his spine. He luxuriates in the feeling, pressing himself into it, and chasing the sensation. Further down his body, he can feel a warm wet heat surrounding his cock. Small shocks of pleasure spark against his skin and he cannot help but moan with the intensity of it.

He reaches down and his hand lands on someone else’s head. Looking under the covers of the bed he is lying in he sees his servant Aaron with Robert’s cock held between his lips, eyes smiling adoringly up at him.

If Robert didn’t think he was dreaming before he knows he is now.

“What are you doing?” Robert asks.

Aaron lets Robert’s cock fall from his mouth and smirks at him.

“Well, you do always say that this is your favourite way to wake up.”

Aaron drops a small kiss onto the sensitive head of Robert’s prick and then moves sensuously up Robert’s body to kiss his lips. Despite the place Aaron’s mouth has just been Robert cannot help but think of how sweet he tastes, and he reaches up to tangle his hands in Aaron’s hair once more so that he might pull him deeper into the kiss. Aaron seems to know his lips well as he presses little bites along the most sensitive parts of Robert’s mouth causing Robert to reach up and beg for more.

“You’re my favourite,” Robert confesses against Aaron’s lips, somehow knowing that this is the right moment to say it.

“And you are mine,” Aaron replies.

“Oh really? And what would you say is your favourite thing about me?” Robert asks cheekily. He still can’t believe what is happening; that he has the man that he has desired so much and for so long in his arms and in his bed.

“Well, I love your hair. I love how when I pull on it, just like this-” Aaron grasps a handful of hair right at the top of Robert’s neck “- it makes you melt in my hands.”

And melted Robert has, his whole body suddenly loose and relaxed as if he has been soaking his muscles in a warm bath.

“I love your lips,” Aaron rests his thumb gently on Rob’s swollen lips, pressing down to expose Robert’s teeth. Rob rises to the bait and takes the thumb into his mouth, sucking on it gently and rubbing his tongue against the tip. He’s never thought of the taste of skin as being particularly attractive before but right now he is sure that he has never tasted anything more divine.

Aaron’s eyes darken as Robert sucks and Rob is sure that his lover is thinking of something else that ought to be getting sucked. But more than that, the look in his eyes is not just one of lust but one of devotion and awe. Rob might be the one on his back, but he has never felt more powerful.

Aaron breaks the moment to continue lavishing adoration on Robert’s body, finding and praising every part of him from the sensitive skin on the inside of his wrist to the planes of his chest that make his whole body shiver when stroked just so. Aaron moves as if he and Robert have been lovers for years.

“I love everything about you, you know that?” Aaron says, an intense look in his eyes. “But one thing I especially love is your big, hard, beautiful cock.”

Aaron rocks his hips to emphasise his point, rubbing his body up and down Robert’s length as if to tease him. Robert is suddenly rock hard, the blood in his body all rushing to his cock and the space where his and Aaron’s bodies are joined sparking with arousal.

“I can still feel you in me from last night,” Aaron says. “I always feel you for days after. I love the stretch of you; you’re so thick I sometimes worry that I won’t be able to take you all. But I always do and then you are hitting that spot deep within me that only you can reach. Sometimes when you’re at the council or a banquet and I am bored I stand beside you and clench my body just so I can feel the memory of you fucking me.”

Robert can stand it no longer. With one heft of his hips, he is toppling Aaron, switching their positions so that Rob is the one holding Aaron down on the bed. He grabs Aaron’s wrists and pins them beside his head so that he can drink in the sight of Aaron all stretched out and blushing beneath him.  

“When did you become such a minx?” Robert asks incredulously, amazed and enchanted by Aaron’s transformation from shy manservant to seductive lover.

Aaron cants his head, clearly begging for a kiss, and Robert is delighted to oblige him.

“You did this to me,” Aaron confesses once their lips part. “I had never known desire like this until I knew you.”

“Me neither,” Robert says. “I’ve never felt like this about anyone before you.”

They devour each other hungrily, their confessed lusts driving their need for each other even higher until Aaron starts to beg.

“Please… please…”

“What do you need?” Robert asks.

“I need you in me.”

“I’m sure I can oblige. But we need to prepare you first.”

“No need. I took care of myself while you were still sleeping.”

Robert encourages Aaron to turn onto his stomach, and Robert lightly kisses the globes of his ass before pressing a finger gently into his channel. He is deeply impressed to find Aaron’s hole already wet and loose and welcoming for him. But he is mindful of the fact that Aaron has said he is sore. He never ever wants to hurt his lover so he spends a few more moments stretching and teasing at Aaron’s hole, all the while bestowing kisses up and down his spine.

“I’m ready, stop teasing, please,” Aaron eventually gasps.

Robert’s not quite done yet though. Instead, he takes himself in hand and guides the head of his cock up and down the sensitive parts of Aaron’s crack, spreading the oil that Aaron had used on himself and driving both their yearning for each other even higher.

“Do you want this?” Robert asks.

“I do, I do,” Aaron is nearly sobbing into the sheets by his head. “Do it, please.”

Robert presses into Aaron slowly, luxuriating in the tight yet welcoming heat. Aaron muffles his gasp with a pillow as Robert bottoms out. He can feel little sparks of pleasure as Aaron’s hole spasms around his cock, his lover’s walls stretching in order to accommodate his length. Robert lowers his body so that he is pressed all the way along Aaron’s back, holding him against the bed with all his weight and able to feel every shiver that runs through his lover’s body.

He nips at Aaron’s ear and whispers into it.

“You feel so good.”

Aaron twists his head so that he can kiss Robert, the movement causing his hole to twitch and Robert to moan.

“So do you,” he replies looking intently into Rob’s eyes. “But please, hurry up and fuck me.”

They move together, Robert pushing into Aaron’s body as Aaron pushes back into his thrusts. Rob holds Aaron close against him, one hand wrapped carefully around his throat and the other supporting Aarons own hand as he grips onto the headboard and uses it for leverage.

Robert has never felt anything like this with any of his previous bed-mates. Aaron’s body responds to him in ways he never knew were possible and Robert is completely and entirely lost to pleasure. Aaron’s moans turn to breathy gasps of air that sound like they are being pushed out of his body by the force Robert is fucking him with. Suddenly his body tenses and he is crying out, Robert’s name on his lips as he cums. Robert follows soon after, the delicious contractions of Aaron’s body milking the Robert’s orgasm from him.

They collapse together, sweaty and exhausted and yet still elated. Rob reaches out and presses his palm against Aaron’s heart, feeling it beneath his skin in the same rapid rhythm of his own.

“I love you,” Aaron whispers to him.

“I love you too,” Robert replies.

Robert isn’t dreaming. But he’s not awake either. He just floats halfway between sleeping and waking and enjoys his time with a dream version of Aaron that loves and desires him just as much as he loves and desires Aaron. With his whole heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Summary: The chapter begins with Robert questioning if he is dreaming or not. He then becomes aware of the fact that Aaron is giving him a blowjob under the sheets and Robert decides that this must be a dream. He and Aaron talk, with Aaron implying that they have slept together many times before. Aaron then asks Robert to fuck him and confesses that he has already stretched and lubricated himself. Robert fucks Aaron with him lying on his stomach, and afterwards they confess their love for each other. Consent is never expressly given by Robert in the scene, although he enthusiastically agrees to fuck Aaron. The whole scene is a dream/hallucination experienced by Robert as Aaron is currently many miles away trying to locate the antidote. 
> 
> One of my pet peeves in fiction is sex scenes that add nothing to the plot, and so I feel bad that I have just written one! On the other hand, I wanted to write a scene that could be skipped by people who are not keen on this type of material and still have the rest of the fic make sense. There are a few things from this chapter that will be appearing later though, so keep your eyes peeled!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Six- Robron + another character of your choice- Chrissie

The journey has been long and arduous. Aaron has travelled as fast and as far as he can, using the light of the summer evenings to press on even though his body has cried out for rest.

The soft rolling planes of the fertile Sugden lands had soon given way to the rough and rocky terrain controlled by the Whites. Aaron might have wondered why anyone would choose to live in such a hard and unforgiving landscape, but Robert had explained to him that while the Whites owned few resources for farming or fishing, deep within their mountains were hidden the most productive mines in the known world. From iron ore to diamonds all the precious fruits of the earth could be found hidden in the belly of The White Kingdom.

It may or may not have been why Robert enjoyed his time there so much.

Aaron had only known the Prince in passing before he had moved away to The White Kingdom. Prince Robert was a few years older than him so they had never been schooled or trained together. He had only ever really seen the Prince whenever he went to request something from the armoury where Aaron worked. And during that one unfortunate incident with the apples.

But even Aaron, who barely knew him, had noticed the change in Prince Robert once he had returned to the Sugden Kingdom a few years earlier than originally planned. Robert still loved the finer things in life, still dressed in rich fabrics and adorned himself with jewels. But he was more giving than he was before. He always tipped the workers in the armoury now, gave charity without being asked to, and was forgiving whenever a servant made a mistake. It was almost as if the time Robert had spent around wealth and luxury had shown him that there were more precious things in life. Aaron had once tried to ask him about it, but Robert had brushed him off, claiming only that he had grown up a bit and that Aaron might like to consider doing the same.

His head has been full of thoughts of Robert the whole way through the journey- every waking moment has been spent thinking about the times that they have shared together and petrified that they will never share anymore. Even his nights have been filled with thoughts of the Prince, and he is sure that he has awakened more than once crying out Robert’s name into the dark.

He should have been paying more attention; on one particularly difficult part of the journey the rocky ledge that he was hiking on had given way and left him dangling on the side of the mountain hanging on only by his fingertips. And this time there was no shining Prince to come and save him, no strong arms to pull him from the grip of death.

“Perhaps I should just let go,” his traitorous mind whispered to him. “Paddy warned me that this was a hopeless quest.”

His knuckles whitened as he forced himself to hold on. If he let go now there would be no chance of ever saving Robert. And he would be responsible for his death twice over. First by letting him drink the poison and second by failing to fetch the antidote.

“Robert is worth more than my self-pity,” he thought desperately to himself. “I have to find the strength to save him!”

He could feel part of the rock he was clinging onto crumble in his grip. He only had one chance to do this! Reaching down inside himself and drawing on every ounce of strength he had in his body he pulled himself up, arms straining, muscles twitching with energy. Finally, he made it back onto solid ground, his whole-body trembling with adrenaline and exertion. Oh, how he would give anything to have Robert’s strong arms around him again, calming him down, as they had the day he fell through the ice!

But there was no time for self-pity. He had to press on.

And press on he does until he finds the entrance of a cave carved into the mountain. He knows he is in the right place by the charms and trinkets hanging at the threshold making the cavern look like a fairy den rather than the abode of a powerful witch.

He takes a deep breath and enters.

The cave is set up as a comfortable living room. There are blankets and cushions strewn around, and every wall has numerous shelves filled with books and jars and trinkets. Drying herbs hang from the ceiling, scenting the air with their earthy fragrance, and a large workbench in the corner is covered in knives and implements. There is a bright fire burning in the fire-pit in the centre of the room, but Aaron is concerned to feel that there is no heat coming from it. Indeed, the whole place is unnaturally cold.

Princess Christine stands behind the workbench, appraising him but saying nothing.

He bows to her, “my name is…”

“I know who you are,” she interrupts him.

“Then you know why I’m here?”

“I do.”

“Will you help me?” Aaron asks, seeing no point in wasting time with pleasantries.

“Why should I?”

Aaron reaches into his pocket, “I can pay.”

“I have no use for coin.”

“I can trade?”

“You have nothing I want,” she replies, looking down her nose at him and regarding him with a look as cold as their air around them.

“Please,” Aaron is beginning to feel anxious and frustrated, “I would not seek to disturb you if I was not desperate.”

She considers him for a moment.

“Your hands are bleeding,” she says after a pause. “Sit by the fire and I will give you a salve for them.”

Aaron wants to protest that it is not he who needs the assistance, but he knows better than to argue with a witch.

He sits by the cold flames as the Princess finds what she needs. He hasn’t even noticed the damage to his hands but turning them over he sees that the skin is shredded across his fingers. He must have done it when he fell from the mountain.

The Princess moves with the grace of a person who had been raised royal. She has the same lightness of step and ease of movement that Robert does. They would have made a very handsome couple together, Aaron realises.

“Do you look at me with pity?” she asks as she begins to spread the salve on his wounds.

“No. I was only thinking that you are very beautiful.”

“I must be, for you to think so, Aaron Dingle.” She replies. Aaron knows she has a point; he has never once had his head turned by a woman. But that does not mean he could not appreciate beauty where he sees it.

“About why I came here…”

“You want me to give you the antidote that will save Prince Robert’s life,” she states.

“Please.”

“How do you know that I am not the one who poisoned him?”

“Even if you were, I have no choice but to ask. Your reasons for hurting him are your own, as are my reasons for saving him.”

“You believe that you can?”

“I have to try,” Aaron struggles to keep the tremor from his voice. “He’s everything to me.”

The Princess stands and returns to her workbench.

“While I have many reasons for wanting to see Prince Robert in pain,” the Princess begins, “I have no wish for him to die. I would rather he live and suffer for what he did to me than experience the quiet peace of death. If Robert is to die, it will not be by my hand.”

She begins to work, selecting herbs, and grinding them in a mortar as she tells her story to him.

“Let me ask you, Mr Dingle- if a person uses a sword your family has forged to kill another man, are they culpable for the man’s death? Of course, they are not. So, if someone were to use a poison I have made to harm or kill another, am I responsible? I did make the poison that has been used to harm Prince Robert. But, again, I have no wish for him to die.

“There are many people, however, who do. Take my sister for example. When Prince Robert entered our court it was clear to all but her that the better match would be with me. But he saw that she loved him and he strung her along until the poor girl was obsessed with him. If a family member came to you and begged for help to heal their aching heart, would you deny them aid?

“But then, if a family member had betrayed you and hurt you and destroyed your position. If a family member had poisoned everyone against you and caused the death of your most beloved child, would you not seek revenge?”

Aaron listens to Christine’s tale with interest, unsure of why she is telling him all this, but enraptured nonetheless.

“My sister came to me,” Christine continues still working away while talking to Aaron, “saying that she had an opportunity to win back Robert and begging me for help, as you did just now. She told me that our father was travelling to the Sugden Kingdom and that she would have the chance to slip a poison into Robert’s cup. But she did not want him to die. What she wanted was for him to sleep. She wanted him to sleep until she awakened him with true love’s kiss. Then he would realise that he has loved her all along and she would rule by his side as Queen.

“I gave her the poison. But I did not feel it was necessary to remind her that she is not Robert’s true love. How could she be, when Prince Robert is so incapable of loving anyone but himself? I’ll admit, I am impressed by your tenacity coming all this way to fetch this antidote for him. But your journey has been a waste. The poison will have killed him by the time you return.”

“Why do this? You claimed you did not want to kill Robert.” Aaron asked.

“Robert dying is a side effect. I have told you of my sister’s guilt. King Jack’s temper is renowned throughout the kingdoms. My sister will be executed for killing your Prince and my father will start a war to avenge his favourite daughter. I care not for the outcome, I simply want my family to suffer for what they did to me and my son. And when the war is over I shall take back the throne that is rightfully mine.

“They may have told you that I gave up my crown willingly, but I was forced to do so. My sister’s foolishness has simply provided me with the opportunity to get it back. I would be a fool not to take it.”

Aaron sat in shocked amazement at the Princess’ tale. What he thought had been a simple plot to kill the Prince was, in fact, a grand scheme to grab power.

“I appreciate you telling me all of this,” Aaron said, “but all I want to do is save Robert’s life.”

“I know,” Christine replied. “And that is why I will give you this.”

She handed him a pouch of herbs and roots.

“These are the ingredients you need to make the cure for the poison I gave my sister. I am giving this to you because I respect that you love him, however foolish you may be.”

“If there is any chance to save him, I will take it.”

“I know that you will,” the Princess said, escorting him to the exit. “Just don’t blame me when there is no happy ending to this tale.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN!! 
> 
> How cheesy is that ending? Couldn't resist though ;)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Seven- Favourite AU- Fairy-tale

He arrives back in the rooms of the court physician to see Princess Rebecca standing over a prone and pale Prince Robert.

“What are you doing!” the exclamation is out of his mouth before he can stop it.

“Aaron!” Princess Victoria exclaims from another corner of the room. “You made it back!”

“I did, and I have the ingredients for the antidote.”

“We may not need them; Princess Rebecca says she has another cure.”

“I’ll take them anyway,” says Paddy taking the pouch from Aaron. “Just in case Princess Rebecca’s method should fail.”

“This will work. I am sure of it,” Rebecca says from where she is standing by Robert’s still sleeping form. “There is nothing more powerful in the world than true love.”

Paddy nods at her but moves over to his work space nonetheless. Victoria, on the other hand, moves over to Rebecca.

This is his chance, Aaron realises. He could speak out now and expose Rebecca for what she is, expose the harm she has done Robert. But as he looks at her he questions if he may be wrong. He has no reason to believe Christine over her younger sister. For all he knows, everything he has been told is a lie. More than that, Christine only told him that Rebecca’s kiss would not work because she doesn’t think Robert is capable of loving anyone. What if she is wrong, and Robert really does love Rebecca?

And how could he not? She is tall and graceful and pretty. She has shining blonde hair and big expressive eyes. She is elegant and refined. She is everything he is not.

She leans down, strokes a hand through Robert’s golden locks, and presses her lips to his.

The air around him is charged with something that makes Aaron feel like a storm is coming. He half expects a thunderclap to sound when Rebecca ends the kiss.

But nothing happens.

The heavens do not open, the ground does not shake, and Prince Robert does not open his eyes.

“I don’t understand…” the Princess whispers.

“It’s all right,” says Victoria, placing her hand on Rebecca’s back in a gesture of comfort. “Aaron brought the other cure. He’ll wake up soon.”

“No! This should have worked!” Rebecca pushes away from Victoria to lean down and kiss the Prince again. Her beautiful face is cracked with worry. Her shock at her failure is almost comical.

“I don’t understand,” she says again when more of her kisses fail to work.

Aaron takes a step towards her and leans in close so that Paddy and Victoria won’t hear their conversation from where they are preparing the antidote.

“Your sister told me everything,” he says to her, quietly. “She told me what you asked of her, of what you wanted.”

“Then you know this should have worked. True love’s kiss would have awakened him.”

“You need to ask yourself, Princess, what reasons your sister could have for helping you and what she could hope to gain from harming you.”

The Princess reaches out and slaps him clean across the face. He stumbles a bit; she is too slight to have really hurt him, but she has taken him by surprise.

Paddy too as he shouts, “what’s going on?” from where he is working on the antidote.

“I will not be spoken to in this manner by a servant!” she exclaims.

“What did you say to her?”

“I said only the truth!” he retorts. “When I went to fetch the antidote, Princess Christine told me it was the Princess that had poisoned Prince Robert, and why she did it.”

“And you believe what Christine said to you?” asks Paddy.

“I do.”

Rebecca stamps her foot, “I won’t stand for this,” she says, and storms out of the room.

“Is this true?” Victoria asks once she is gone. “Did Rebecca really poison Rob?”

“It is what she told me.” Aaron confesses, “Rebecca wants Robert back, and Christine wants Rebecca accused of murder so that she can take the throne.”

“Oh, this is all such a mess!” Victoria exclaims, her voice thick with tears.

“I brought the antidote. It’s going to be fine.” Aaron reassures her. But a look in her eyes makes him doubt himself.

“We were getting desperate,” she tells him. “That’s why we listened to Rebecca when she said she had a cure. Robert… I’m so sorry, but he doesn’t have long.”

Suddenly, every thought is abandoned. He has to be by Robert’s side.

The Prince is lying exactly where Aaron left him. His skin is still pale and clammy but now his hair also seems to have greyed as if every ounce of colour and vitality has been drained from him. Robert looks so vulnerable, lying there at death’s door. Aaron daren’t reach out and touch him, afraid that his body will already feel like that of a corpse.

“How long do we have?” he asks desperately.

“We don’t know,” Victoria tells him. “Aaron, I’m so sorry!”

“No,” Aaron says. “He drank the poison to protect me. This is my fault.”

“He stubborn,” Victoria replies with a comforting squeeze of his shoulder. “He never makes anything easy.”

“How is the patient?” Paddy asks from where he is stirring together the herbs Aaron brought back.

Victoria moves to feel her brother’s brow, then presses her fingers to his wrist to take his pulse. She stands as still as a statue for a shockingly long time as Aaron feels his heart drop through the floor.

“Not good,” she eventually says. “His heart is barely beating at all.”

“Aaron, could you hold him up please?”

He nods in agreement and arranges himself so that he is sat behind Robert on the bed, the Prince’s back against his chest, his head resting on his shoulder. He wonders, briefly, if this is how Robert felt that day by the lake as he held a shivering Aaron in his arms and tried to keep him alive.

Victoria and Paddy both stand over him as they administer the potion, Paddy dropping the liquid onto the Prince’s tongue as his sister massages his throat to make his body swallow. The three of them are tense as they wait for the potion to have any effect at all.

The Prince’s body suddenly stiffens and Aaron grips onto him tighter on reflex. Then, one enormous shudder wracks through his body, shaking the Prince so violently that Aaron struggles to keep him within his arms. There is one great gasp from him, so strong that it might suck all the air from the room.

And then nothing.

The Prince’s body suddenly goes limp, like a puppet whose strings have been cut. His head lolls on Aaron’s shoulder and he looks down to see Robert’s eyes open and staring up at him.

But there is no life in them.

“What happened!” Aaron cries out. “What do we do?”

He cannot rip his gaze from the ghastly sight of Robert’s dead eyes.

He feels Paddy and Victoria step back from him. “I’m so sorry, Aaron. We were too late.” Paddy says.

“No! There has to be something more we can do!”

Victoria touches his arm very softly. “Aaron, he’s gone.”

She reaches out and gently closes her brother’s eyes, robbing Aaron of the sight of them forever.

…

Paddy and Victoria go to inform the King and Prince Andrew about Robert’s death, leaving Aaron to guard the body. 

At first, he cannot bear to be near it. The skin and bones that he once adored so much have become gruesome now that there is no longer life in them. Waiting in the room alone with the body is torture because he cannot quiet the small voice within him that asks if maybe, just maybe, there is a chance that they were wrong and some part of Robert clings to life still.

“I cannot believe you have been so foolish!” he exclaims to the empty room, for the first time letting his anger about the whole situation boil over. “You’ve thrown your life away! And for what?”

Before he knows what he is doing he finds himself at Robert’s bedside, his knees buckling under the weight of his grief.

“It should have been me that drunk the poison. You and everyone around us knows this. Why wouldn’t you just let me save you?

“Why did you have to be so stubborn? Why did you have to be so chivalrous? Why couldn’t you let me do this one thing for you?

“How am I supposed to go on now?” he continues, the words pouring out of him, “How am I supposed to live knowing that the only man I have ever loved gave his life for me? And I loved you, Robert. I loved you more than anything. And now you’re gone.”

He buries his head in Robert’s shoulder, unable to stop the sobs that now wrack his body. He’d never admitted his love aloud before, and now he does not know what to do with himself. It is like a cork has been popped from a bottle and there is nothing to do but accept that everything will come pouring out.

“I love you… I love you…” Now that he has said it he is incapable of saying anything else. “I love you, and I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. What I’ll do without your smile, without your humour, without your bravery, or cleverness, or wit. How can I wake in the morning knowing that I won’t see you anymore? How can I sleep and know that I will only ever see you in my dreams? How can I move on knowing that I never had one chance to kiss you?”

Aaron is sure his face must be a mess of tears by now. There is even a wet patch on Robert’s breast where Aaron has been resting his head. Though Robert’s face is pale with death at least now there is also an air of peace about him. Perhaps, if Aaron was ignorant of what had gone before, he might have thought the Prince was only sleeping.

This is his last chance. With all the reverence of a worshiper at the altar of their god, Aaron leans down and presses his first and only kiss to Robert’s lips. It is sweet, and it lingers, but then it is gone.

When he finally moves back and looks down at Robert again, he is shocked to see Robert’s eyes open, lively, and staring right back at him.

 

 

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter eight- epilogue.

The first thing Robert is aware of is Aaron looking down at him.  He wears exactly the same expression of shocked horror that he did the night Robert drank the poison.

“What happened?” Robert asks, voice cracking with disuse.

“You… you were dead…” Aaron just about manages to reply.

They look at each other for a little while longer, Robert needing a moment to take in his surroundings. He doesn’t remember much; just drinking out of the goblet and then waking up. There are a few thin, gauzy memories floating about in his mind, but they fade like fog in sunlight as soon as he tries to catch them.

Aaron is still staring at him.

“Have you been crying?” Robert asks, noticing that Aaron’s face is red and blotchy.

That gets Aaron moving. He practically throws himself from where he is sitting, half on the bed half on Robert’s lap, to stand and face the window so that he can rub at his eyes. Robert wants to get up and follow him, but he doesn’t yet have the ability to move his legs.

“You were dead…” he hears Aaron mutter.

“Well, now I’m not,” Robert replies. “Is everything all right?”

Aaron shakes himself into action, “your sister and the physician have gone to inform the court of your death. I have to go and tell them that we were wrong.”

And with that, he is practically running from the room before Robert even has the chance to shout his name.

He has just about managed to move his body into a position where he can sit upright without discomfort when his sister bursts into the room, throws her arms around his neck, and knocks him back down to the bed, undoing all his hard work.

“My God!” she exclaims. “It’s a miracle!”

He laughs at her enthusiasm, “are you sure you checked properly that I was dead?”

She punches him on the arm and Prince Andrew snickers at him from where he has entered the room with their father and the physician.

“You were gone, Robert! It was so awful!” Victoria continues. “We had just gone to tell father what had happened and then in bursts Aaron to tell us that the antidote he brought worked after all!”

“Aaron brought the antidote?” Robert asks.

“The boy has done well,” his father admits. “He must be rewarded for his services.”

“Yes,” Robert agrees with his father, for once. “Where is he?”

“Aaron went to tell his sister of your recovery,” Victoria explains. “I think Liv has developed a soft spot for you; she was here every day helping me and Paddy care for you. She said Aaron had asked her to look after you for him while he was away.”

The rest of the room begins to talk about arrangements for a feast and a festival to celebrate Robert’s recovery. Robert feels like his head is swimming with information. He is almost dizzy with the effort of trying to piece together what happened after he drank the poison.

“I’m a bit tired,” Robert says to the chattering room, “can we talk about this later?”

“Tired? But you’ve been asleep for four days!” his brother exclaims.

“Actually,” Paddy interrupts, helpfully, for once, “Robert suffered several fits and hallucinations while he was under the effect of the poison. It would be best for him if he could rest for a few days to regain his full strength.”

“Lazybones,” Andy mutters, but his voice is soft and tinged with fondness. Maybe they had all really thought he was in danger.

King Jack drops a rare kiss onto his forehead before he leaves, whispering “don’t think this means you’re forgiven for the stunt you pulled,” to him. Robert supposes that’s fair enough. It must have seemed strange to the court that he was so willing to risk his life for Aaron. In a way, it is strange to him too. He doesn’t really recall making any attempt to think through the consequences of his actions, he just saw that Aaron was in danger and had to act. It was the same impulse that had once driven him to run out onto the already cracked ice.

Eventually, it is just him and Victoria left in the room.

“So… Aaron went and fetched the antidote?” he asks.

“He did, yes!” her eyes light up with admiration. “You were poisoned with a petal from some sort of super rare flower and the only cure was the root of the same flower. So, Aaron travelled all the way to the White kingdom and asked Princess Christine to give him the cure.”

“He went to and from the White kingdom in four days?”

“I know! Isn’t it incredible!” she tells the tale with enthusiasm. “It seems he had to do quite a lot of convincing to get Chrissie to give him the antidote which, no offence brother, is fair enough.”

Robert can only shrug. Chrissie is the last person that he thought would ever help him.

“I wonder what he said to her,” he muses aloud.

“I don’t know, I didn’t get the chance to ask. And who cares? The cure clearly worked. He came back just in time as well. You were so ill and we were so desperate that we even had Princess Rebecca in here offering a different cure- some nonsense about true love’s kiss waking you up- but then Aaron burst in and told us that Rebecca was the one who poisoned you!”

It was all too much all at once, “Rebecca tried to kill me then tried to cure me by kissing me?”

“Like I said, we were desperate. You were dying! Aaron said that Chrissie told him some story about Rebecca’s plan. Once Aaron told us this she stormed out of the room. By then we had Aaron’s antidote. When we first gave it to you, it didn’t work at all! But I suppose it must have been a slow working potion or something because you woke up a few minutes after.”

Robert considers her tale. He is still rather confused about the plot or whatever it was between Rebecca and her sister. He resolves to ask Rebecca about it later. The fact that he will have to have this conversation with her behind bars brings him only the smallest amount of pleasure.

Besides, he has other things to worry about.

“Is it true that I hallucinated?” he asks.

“Of a sort,” his sister replies. “It certainly sounded like that’s what you were doing. You talked a little in your sleep and... well... you moaned…”

“Well, I suppose if I was under the effect of a fever…”

“No Robert,” she interrupts him. “I mean you _moaned_.”

“Like I was in pain?”

“No. Quite the opposite in fact.”

Rob thinks for a moment. He can recall small snatches of dreams he had experienced. He is sure that he had relived the memory of Aaron falling through the ice more than once. And there was one horrid dream where he saw Aaron fall from the ledge of a cliff, only to pull himself to safety. Then, there was that dream of the two of them in his bed, together. As lovers.

“You cried out for Aaron, a lot actually. You sounded pretty desperate for him” Victoria adds as a memory comes flooding back in bright detail, the dream so vivid that he can almost feel the ghost of Aaron’s lips on his own.

“I don’t know what’s going on between you two,” his sister says carefully, “but it might be worth finding out if he feels the way that you do about him.”

…

It takes him a while, but eventually, he regains enough strength to make it back to his rooms. He borrows his father’s manservant, Adam, to help him clean up and redress. After a quick soak in a warm bath he feels much more human, although the frequency with which he finds his mind drifting back to snatched memories of the dreams he endured is troublesome.

Maybe they are false-friends, hallucinations of a future that cannot be, meant to torment him into madness.

But sitting in lukewarm water worrying about it will get him nowhere, so he sends Adam off to find Aaron and bring him to his chambers.

He waits a frustratingly long time, and he is sure that he must have worn holes in the rug he is pacing on, but eventually, Aaron appears at his door.

“How may I attend you, sire?” he says, eyes on the floor.

Robert instantly knows that something is wrong; Aaron hardly ever calls him by his title, and when he does it is always with a mocking tone, not this air of reverence with which he speaks now.

“Come, sit,” Robert gestures to the table that is set with a feast for two. “I would like for you to have dinner with me.”

Aaron regards him with confusion but moves to where Robert gestures anyway. He is clearly taken aback when Robert pulls his chair out for him and he nearly jumps out of his skin when Robert moves to his other side to pour wine into his cup.

“I hear it is you I should be thanking for saving my life,” Robert says.  

“It was my duty.”

“Nevertheless, you risked your life to save me, and I am in your debt.”

“It was a debt returned. Besides, you’re the Prince and I am just a servant.”

Robert nearly slams his cup down, “you are far more than _just_ a servant.”

Aaron looks mildly shocked by his outburst and Robert is a little ashamed to have startled him.

“Besides,” Robert continues, “you’re not going to be a servant for much longer. I’ve spoken to my father; for what you have done and for your service to the crown you are to be made a knight of this realm.”

The horrified expression is back on Aaron’s face, “but I don’t want to be a knight! I want…”

Aaron cuts himself off. Robert thinks for a moment that he might continue talking but then he rises out of his seat and says, “if this is what you brought me here to talk about, then I thank you for your offer. But I would much rather continue serving with you.”

“But as a knight, you would be serving with me…”

“That’s not what I mean,” Aaron interrupts.

Aaron seems caught up in his own words. Robert can see the way his eyes are twitching, refusing to land in one spot but moving from Robert’s eyes to his lips to his ears to his hair. It’s a habit that Robert knows means Aaron is trying to hide something. Normally Robert would try to berate whatever it was out of him but this time he knows that a softer approach is needed.

“I want to be with you,” Aaron finally admits after a pause.

“I want to be with you too.”

“No. I mean…” Aaron catches himself again.

“Please don’t go, Aaron,” Robert says, suddenly realising that Aaron is probably preparing to bolt for the door. “Come sit with me by the fire. There’s something I need to tell you.”

Aaron moves cautiously, as if he is stalking a skittish animal, but eventually, he relaxes back into the chair.

“When I was under the poison’s influence I had dreams,” Robert begins. “When I woke up I didn’t remember much of them, just snatches of images or words. But since I have been awake for a while now I have remembered more- feelings, sensations, voices.  Some dreams were more vivid than others; I think I saw you climbing along a cliff edge like some storybook hero, at one point. I dreamt that you were angry at me, shouting and crying. I dreamt of the two of us in this room, together. And I dreamt that you told me things I never thought I would hear from your lips.”

Robert reaches out so that he can grasp one of Aaron’s hands in his own. Aaron lets him turn his hand over so that Robert can rub at the delicate skin of his wrist with his thumb. He focuses in on the pattern of Aaron’s veins while he forces the words out.

“I do not say this to manipulate you. And I do not say this with any expectation of returned feelings. If I am wrong, you may walk from this room and choose never to see me again, if that is your wish.”

He takes a deep breath, “as I slept under the effects of the poison I dreamt that we were lovers. I dreamt that we were in my bed and that we were together in all the ways two people can be. Victoria says that I cried out your name in the night, and I am sure somehow that I heard you cry back. I thought I heard you say you love me. And when I awakened it was to the touch of your lips on my own.

“I tell you this because I hope very much that this was not all a dream. I tell you this because I love you, and I hope you feel the same way.”

There is a great long chasm of a pause.

And then a hand is sliding to the back of his neck and pulling him in to meet soft, warm lips.

They touch with the lightness of a butterfly landing on an outstretched palm. Then hunger overwhelms them both. They move together and all at once, hands tangled and chests pressed together. Robert falls into Aaron’s kisses with a rush as heady as a dive taken into a favourite pool. The sensation is all at once familiar and heady with excitement.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Robert asks against Aaron’s lips, unwilling to pull back in case this all turns out to be another vivid dream.

“Robert,” Aaron’s sigh is an exaltation. “I never dared hope I would have this. I never dared hope I would have this with _you_. Please, do not take it from me now.”

“I won’t, I promise,” Robert swears. “I love you.”

“And I love you.”

They dive in for more kisses, Robert revelling in the fact that he can take as many as he wants, cherishing the way Aaron responds to his every move, and delighted by every sound and sigh that Aaron makes as they express their desire for each other with touches that are both soft and starving.

When Robert finally pulls back, dizzy with kisses and love, he notices that he is on his knees before his servant, looking up into gorgeous blue eyes, and he realises that he has never seen anything more amazing than the way Aaron is looking at him now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! Thanks so much to everyone who has stuck with me on this wild ride (especially during what has been quite a stressful week for the fandom lbr.) Massive thanks to everyone who read over drafts of this for me and especially those of you who left me comments. You've no idea how motivating that was and how much I have enjoyed reading each and every one of your messages :) 
> 
> I've left a few things open ended- we never see Rebecca arrested or punished for what she did. Nor was it revealed that Ross was the person she was speaking to in the cellar. There wasn't really enough scope to address this all in the course of the fic, and dealing with the fall out from Bex's actions and the way that Robert is caught between two feuding sisters could probably be a fic on its own!
> 
> Come scream at me on tumblr: I'm iwillsendapostcard


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